Thanksgiving I actually like because it's the one holiday all Americans have in common. You don't have to worry about what ethnicity or religion somebody is, or if you are going to offend them, everyone celebrates to some extent (well I guess Native Americans might beg to differ)

I do think black friday is ruining Thanksgiving though. And Christmas is just getting ridiculous. Although I do find it a bit ironic that some Christians get really bent out of shape about the twisting of Christmas to be commercial, when the celebration was specifically chosen to coincide with a pagan festival, instead of when the bible claims Jesus was born.

I must be the luckiest person on the planet. My kids helped me make Thanksgiving Brunch (we don't do a dinner) and we took it to my mom's house to eat (she's away visiting my brother). Since the kids are used to me being vegan, they simply assumed nearly all the food would be vegan (it all was, except for the green bean casserole, which I can do without, anyway). We even made gluten-free pasta and pancakes for my son-in-law who has celiac and can't have gluten. What would I do without my minions? Anyhow, I find I love holidays now that people realize we don't need a lot of meat and dairy to make fun food! All that said, the kids do want a ham for Christmas. But past that one item, everything else will be vegan. Now to figure out the menu!

Thanksgiving I actually like because it's the one holiday all Americans have in common. You don't have to worry about what ethnicity or religion somebody is, or if you are going to offend them, everyone celebrates to some extent (well I guess Native Americans might beg to differ).

Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate it! That might not mean much to most people but several members of my family are witnesses and it's always a thing to my grandparents that they won't come.

It makes me sad that stores are open on Thanksgiving now forcing their employees to work instead of spend the day with their families. I'm a glutton myself, so the gluttony of Thanksgiving doesn't bother me.

Thanksgiving was kind of a letdown for me this year. We spent a long time waiting for the (real) turkey to get done, and no one wanted to try anything that I had made. And there was no vegan sweet potato casserole. I might have to make some just for me.

I'm a Thanksgiving baby, so I've always loved Thanksgiving. Plus I love all the autumnal foods. I loved getting together with my huge family when I was little, and then I loved going to my sister's house. This year was my first Thanksgiving away from the family (I was able to fly back to Boston last year), and I did it with my boyfriend and his parents and cousins, who had flown in from Texas. BF made a turkey, but otherwise, I made everything and it was all vegan and everyone LOVED it. I was so worried about how the Texans would feel about Vegansgiving, but they praised everything. We all ate in moderation, spent the time chatting and having fun, played games, and so on. I was sad today, because normally on the day after Thanksgiving, my mom and I hibernate away from the Black Friday crowds by watching chick flicks in our PJs and eating leftover sammiches, but she's in Connecticut and I'm... not. So that was a bummer. But I managed.

So I really think it's about what you make it/how you choose to look at it. I get the same way with Valentine's Day--people complain about it commercializing love, and turning something that should be natural or whatever into something about money. Here's how I see it: yes, we should be telling people we love them/giving thanks for our lives/etc all year round, but we're always busy and stressed and being attacked with advertising telling us that what we have, who we are, and so on just isn't good enough. I think it's GREAT to have a day where we devote our energy to appreciating what and who we have. It's only contrived and commercial if you want to make it that way. We can make it special without having to go with the hype.

Black Friday is utter ridiculousness.

Even though I've never been a Black Friday shopper, I know I'm definitely not going to any of the stores that had their employees work on Thanksgiving for any of my Christmas shopping, because I just can't excuse that.

_________________Your heart is a muscle the size of a fistKeep loving, keep fighting

I'm with ChiVeggie on loving Thanksgiving (which is nicely laid-back in my family) but I know how you feel since I feel the same way about Christmas. My family isn't Christian, so why do we have to celebrate this perfect Christmas every year with a lot of gifts no-one needs? And the stores have been decorated for a month already (which is just stupid) and can I mention again that NONE of my immediate family is Christian so I don't understand why we have to do Christmas? And it's late December and I have to drive across town and it will probably be snowing and I'm a HORRIBLE snow driver and my intestines are in knots just thinking about it... ok... breathe...

Sorry for the rant but there's no point bringing it up with my family anymore. I just needed to vent.

I suppose Christmas is so horrible to me that I barely notice Thanksgiving, and I usually work Black Friday anyway so I don't pay attention. But I this year with all the non-essential stores opening on Thanksgiving (and taking employees away from their family events) to start Black Friday early, well, I think you have a point.

The inlaws are pretty ok except they never know what to make for me and get offended when I bring my own food (I'm not only vegan but have a soy allergy) so I end up filling up on salad and potatoes which doesn't leave my insides feeling too nice. They also pressure me to drink and get offended when I don't. Having even one drink often makes me feel unwell the next day and drinking as little as three has made me puke for hours the next day.

My immediate family is usually pretty good - they make the side dishes dairy and soy free and I bring my own main - except my dad who tries to put meat on my plate constantly and bugs me about being vegan (annoying! but dads are annoying no matter what you do, right?) but they usually celebrate at my aunt's who lives nearby and she doesn't even understand about my brother's anaphylactic dairy allergy (she's fed him dishes with dairy in the past thinking that a little bit won't bother him) so I REALLY don't trust her when it comes to vegan/soy allergic me.

Luckily I work at a hospital so we never close and there are usually a bunch of people who end up working the holidays and would rather have them off so I switch with them and then my excuse is "Oh, I'm working 15:30-23:30 that day. Sorry but SOMEONE has to x ray all those people who come in sick and injured." And I get paid time and a half to miss the festivities to boot!

I understand the dislike of holidays, but Thanksgiving has always been okay for me. I love food and I love themed food, so it's basically just an excuse for me to make food like a seitan roast and stuffing and green bean casseroles that I would otherwise not make. The part I dislike is the forced family togetherness. I'd rather spend time with my friends because generally, I tend to like my friends better. But I can't complain too much. Really, the only bad thing is that I'm in an awkward age group of my own. Too young/too non-traditional to fit in with the older cousins, aunts, and uncles who mostly have the traditional straight marriage with kids and too old to fit in with the kids.

I opted out of TG this year. It was lovely, I took the dog for a long walk, read a book, ate awesome mashed spuds and then went to the pub for a couple of glasses of champers in the evening. Friends invited me to their dinners but - I just wasn't feeling it. Maybe it has something to do with being a Brit in the US of A, but I think it has more to do with the fact that any TG spent with my (soon to be former) in-laws were kind of stressful, waiting for my (soon-to-be) ex to reach the point of drunk and obnoxious. Meh. Maybe I'll be less of a grinch next year...

The holidays are so FORCED. I think that's what I hate the most. Expectations are high. Combine that with dietary issues, family you rarely see, booze, and a big ole dead turkey stinking up the house....no thanks.

Thanksgiving is usually pretty hard for me. I went vegan on Thanksgiving day in 2006, so I just always consider Thanksgiving to be my veganniversary. I end up getting really emotional seeing the dead bird and hearing people talking about eating turkey alllll day long. My mom is usually upset at some other family member for doing something inconsiderate which puts me on edge. Then I get mad at my brother in law for talking incessantly about hunting. I usually wind up crying!

That being said, since I live across the country I am always grateful for any excuse to take time off and go spend time with my family.

I went vegan a couple of days before Thanksgiving. I think 4 years ago? 5?

My mom called to ask what I wanted for dinner and I pretty much said "hey, I'm vegan now." and she veganized all of our side dishes. That first year, the veganized pecan tarts were dyed bright red do nobody else would eat mine. Now they are all vegan and nobody notices.

_________________"This is the creepiest post ever if you don't know who Molly is." -Fee"a vegan death match sounds like something where we all end up hugging." -LisaPunk

I am super happy that my thanksgivings are in October, and not November. You get a good bit of a break after Hallowe'en to let your insides recover from eating too much candy before the Christmas season comes along. Otherwise it would be too much food in about a one month stretch, I'd think. And we don't have the whole issue with "Can we please get through with thanksgiving before having to see/hear/worry about Christmas".

I do like Thanksgiving, for the most part. We hosted it this year so I was able to run around and look busy instead of having people worry about whether or not I was eating. This Christmas is going to be hard since pretty much every side dish in my family is not vegan, never mind the turkey. I will have to "offer to help by bringing a few things"... though I have no idea what. My side of the family doesn't know yet that I'm Veg.

Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:51 amPosts: 8123Location: United States of New England

i love Thanksgiving. i feel like it's a no pressure holiday unlike Xmas.i dont really lump Thanksgiving and Black Friday together but i dont shop and i have never participated in Black Friday other than i used to have to work on that day when i worked in retail.i absolutely hate the idea of Black Friday. there's just so much wrong with the whole thing. i especially hate it now that stores think it's ok to open on Thanksgiving. i worked in retail for about 7 years and i got 2 holidays, Thanksgiving and Xmas. the fact that people are expected to work retail on Thanksgiving day really irritates the hell out of me.

to me Thanksgiving should be about hanging out with family, eating food, and just lounging around with no pressure on anything.

The holidays are so FORCED. I think that's what I hate the most. Expectations are high. Combine that with dietary issues, family you rarely see, booze, and a big ole dead turkey stinking up the house....no thanks.

This. I hate that there's no nice way for me to say "fork off, I'm not partaking in this nonsense". I have to do the holiday crepe otherwise it makes me the bad guy. And as a vegan I think I have more of an obligation to do this stuff because they'll say "We made some vegan food" and of course you don't want to make them go through all the extra effort and not show up. Flash forward to dinnertime and you're sitting at the table with a plate of mashed potatoes, a sad salad and a carcass in front of you thinking "why the fork did I come here?".

_________________Half the lies I tell are not true."luckily us vegans dont go into cardiac arrest...but we do go into food comas" - Adam Crisis

The holidays are so FORCED. I think that's what I hate the most. Expectations are high. Combine that with dietary issues, family you rarely see, booze, and a big ole dead turkey stinking up the house....no thanks.

This. I hate that there's no nice way for me to say "fork off, I'm not partaking in this nonsense". I have to do the holiday crepe otherwise it makes me the bad guy. And as a vegan I think I have more of an obligation to do this stuff because they'll say "We made some vegan food" and of course you don't want to make them go through all the extra effort and not show up. Flash forward to dinnertime and you're sitting at the table with a plate of mashed potatoes, a sad salad and a carcass in front of you thinking "why the fork did I come here?".

And the mashed potatoes have butter in them. And chicken stock. And milk. And an egg.